Skeletal fractures are common injuries. These fractures are commonly debilitating and often require the patient to undergo surgery. Indeed, some fractures provide such difficulty for the orthopedic surgeon that complete prostetic replacements are called for. Even when such drastic measures as complete replacement are not necessary, the proper setting of a fractured bone poses substantial challenges to the most skilled orthopedic surgeon.
The difficulties faced by an orthopedic surgeon in properly reducing a fracture are well-known. These difficulties include dealing with the complex shape of many bones when aligning the fracture and the concommitant difficulties in proper placement of an orthopedic pin or pins for holding the fracture fragments in appropriate alignment for healing. This latter problem of parallel pin or bone screw alignment remains one of the challenges facing an orthopedic surgeon in fracture surgery.
There is known to the orthopedic surgeon a variety of guides which facilitate orthopedic pin placement in bone fracture surgery, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,570,624 and 3,171,408. The use of such guides has substantially assisted the orthopedic surgeon in both appropriately aligning a fracture and in correctly placing the orthopedic pins in the parallel fashion necessary to insure proper healing of the fracture. However, where orthopedic pins having enlarged heads are used, as is typical, a problem is encountered in removing the guide without disturbing the precision alignment of the pins. In the past, this problem was overcome with complex assemblies which did not require frangibility and which were difficult, cumbersome, unreliable, and costly to use. It is, therefore, one object of this invention to provide an orthopedic pin placement guide designed to permit its easy removal subsequent to proper bone alignment and pin placement.
Another object of this invention is to provide an orthopedic pin placement guide for precision placement of pins into fractured bones for therapeutic purposes.
Another object of this invention is to provide an orthopedic pin placement guide having weakened areas to promote frangibility.
Another object of this invention is to provide an orthopedic pin placement guide designed so that the guide breaks along frangible portions about the placed orthopedic pins thereby not disturbing or in any way damaging the pins or their precision alignment.
Another object of this invention is to provide an orthopedic pin placement guide providing easy visualization of pin placement.
Another object of this invention is to provide an orthopedic pin placement guide which permits proper placement of orthopedic pins so that they are substantially parallel and thus provide for proper healing of the fractures.